There's still something on ballot for most voters

For the candidates in the Nov. 3 local election, a recent Press headline might’ve stung. “Slim pickins on ballot” the banner proclaimed. “Who you callin’ ‘slim?’” a justifiable candidate reaction might have been. After all, slim is in the eye of the beholder.

But the truth is, many contests in this election aren’t contests at all. Between 14 cities and 10 fire districts in Kootenai County, there are fewer contested races than uncontested. In several places — Hauser, Huetter and Spirit Lake — there aren’t even enough announced candidates for the seats available.

So does that mean you have a free pass to ignore this election cycle and focus on local sports, early Christmas present bargain shopping or maybe next year’s presidential melee? We beseech you, please, no.

City-wise, the mayor and two council seats in Athol are all contested. Coeur d’Alene features challenges to two seats, and it would’ve been three had not Barbara Hedden dropped out of the race a week ago against incumbent Dan Gookin. In Post Falls there’s competition for two council seats, and in Hayden there’s a fight for one seat.

Dalton Gardens has a contested mayoral race and five people battling for two seats on the council. Little Harrison has a big decision night coming, with seven candidates seeking three available seats. And on the fire district front, three in Kootenai County — Eastside, Mica Kidd Island and Spirit Lake — all have contested races on the ballot.

We’ll provide more information about all the candidates in contested races in the weeks ahead, but in the meantime, please do what you can to ensure a healthy voter turnout in this election. Strongly encourage friends, relatives and co-workers to register (see Sholeh Patrick’s column published Tuesday, Sept. 22, on cdapress.com under COLUMNS). Attend or at least read about any candidate debates or forums that might be held. Arm yourself with information and feel free to express your opinions, including support for candidates by writing a letter to the editor that’s no longer than 250 words.

Two years ago in the municipal and fire district elections, a mere 24 percent of Kootenai County’s registered voters bothered to cast ballots. In a recent cdapress.com poll, more than 70 percent of respondents said they vote in every or nearly every election.

Prove it.